NOW A RECOGNISED CONCERT PIANIST OF GREAT CALIBRE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22817, 11 December 1948, Page 4

NOW A RECOGNISED CONCERT PIANIST OF GREAT CALIBRE

ORIOLE FARAM RETURNS

“IF I can rent a house, I will stay in Gisborne a year, so that I can give a .series of benefit concerts and teach in Gisborne, in order to pass on to young Gisborne pianists what I have learnt,” said the former Oriole Farain, who has just returned to her home town after IS years’ absence. Oriole Fa ram is married to Mr. J. 11. Aitehison, a noted Canadian economist.

“And if you can’t get a house?" she * was asked.

"I shall go on a concert tour of New Zealand and Australia after I have had a rest, but I should like to staj in Gisborne, and shall never cease to be grateful to the people here who gave me my start.”

Mrs. Aitehison, remembered vividlj by many musical people in Gisborne who realised her extraordinary talent early and helped to send her abroad with her mother for advanced study will not be easily surpassed in musical accomplishments, filled as her life has been with study and experience and, later, acclaim and praise from such acknowledged musicians as Moriz and Madame Rosenthal, who have inscribed on a composition by the former "To Oriole Faram, the gifted and splendid

pianist.” This is a rare tribute from such famous artists. Famous Teachers Backhaus and Rubenstein have been her teachers and friends. She lias studied under the pianists Mischa Levitzki and Madame Rosenthal, the latter a person who teaches only concert pianists. Before the Jews were forced to flee, Madame Rosenthal was the most sought after teacher in Vienna. It was a special privilege tc be given lessons by Levitzki, who never charged her for the lessons. Subsequent work, concerts and study caused Mrs. Aitehison to treat very lightly her early musical successes. but they demand, in themselves, attention from those who have followed her career abroad. She w’as "discovered” early in Gisborne as a child prodigy and her teacher here was Mr. Irvine Moore. In England she won all prizes in English musical festivals at London, Wimble don and Brighton and was awarded an Associated Boards of Music scholarship at the age of 13. A special scholarship was allowed her, as the regulations barred students under 16 years. Academy Studies

She studied for five years at the Royal Academy under the famous teachers, Frederick Moore (Irvine Moore’s brother), William Murdoch and Harold Craxton, and took her performers’ L.R.A.M., her Teachers A.R.C.M. and the Certificate of Merit, the academy’s highest award, demanding a much higher standard than the Performers’ L.R.A.M., this being presented by the Duke of Connaught. At the age of 16 she led a field of 243 to win the open Parisian scholarship offered by Madame de Pachmann Labori, wife of Vladmire de Pachmann.

Mrs. Aitehison would have liked -tc have returned to New Zealand for a concert tour then, but circumstances did not permit this. Then she met her future husband, a Canadian, at a Victoria League gathering. He was in London taking an 1.0.D.E. scholarship at the London School of Economics, working under Professor Laski and his contemporaries until he passed his B.Sc. Economics with honours. Life In Canada.

They went to live in Canada, where Mrs. Aitehison took further study with Mischa Levitzki, Madame Rosenthal and Wilhelm Backhaus.

Ever since their arrival in Canada, the pianist has given concerts all over the country, including a large number for the Red Cross in Florida, incidentally receiving a film offer from Hollywood whilst there. In the meantime, Mr. Aitehison was continuing post-graduate study and taking important economic posts, including professorship at McMaster University and Victoria College in economics. During the war he was head of the Canadian Army’s Department of Finance and Estimates at Defence Headquarters, Ottawa. He is now finishing his Ph.D. studies at Toronto University. Just before the war a visit to her homeland had been projected by Mrs. Aitehison, but such a tour was prevented once more.

It is 16 months since Mrs. Aitchison booked her passage to New Zealand by the Aorangi and she is pleased to be back.

Carnegie Hall Debut Cancelled.

Her career has not all been cloudless. Her greatest disappointment was the cancellation of her New York debut, which was to have been mado at Carnegie Hall with the backing oi Levitzki in 1942. A New York debut is a most expensive undertaking and for it agents have to “paper the hall,” which means that all the seats must be given away as no one will pay to hear an unknown, or little-known, pianist at her debut. Levitzki had the confidence to launch Mrs, Aitchison before New York and the performance was being planned when he died in 1941, thus causing the cancellation of the plan. Accompanying her mother is Elizabeth Aitchison, aged 11 years, who already gives promise of great things in music. She has been able to play the piano, reading music at sight, since she was four years old, and at the age of eight years played on a “March of Time” broadcast programme Chopin waltzes, which resulted in a storm of inquiries as to the identity of the pianist.